NASA To Update Reporters About Constellation Program “NASA will host a media teleconference Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m. EDT, to brief reporters about recent developments and ongoing progress in NASA’s Constellation Program. Constellation will build the spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and return humans to the moon by 2020.” Editor’s note: And of course, to make certain that the media has to double up – […]

Lloyd W. Chamberlain III “Lloyd began his full-time career with NASA as Electronics Engineer at its flight facility on Wallops Island, VA. His work with NASA then took him to the Kennedy Space Center and, following a promotion in 1987, Lloyd accepted a position at NASA HQ in Washington, DC. During that time Lloyd lived with his wife and three children in Reston, Sterling and Woodbridge, VA. In 1991 he […]

Leon J. Kosofsky, NASA Engineer “Leon J. Kosofsky, 88, a retired NASA photogrammetric engineer who created detailed maps of the moon’s surface, died Oct. 10 at his home in Bethesda. He had melanoma. Mr. Kosofsky joined the space agency in the early 1960s. As a project engineer for the Lunar Orbiter program of unmanned photographic satellites, he created maps of the moon to help locate places for manned missions to […]

NASA Mars Phoenix Mission Faces Survival Challenges “Originally scheduled to last 90 days, Phoenix has completed a fifth month of exploration in the Martian arctic. As expected, with the Martian northern hemisphere shifting from summer to fall, the lander is generating less power due to shorter days and fewer hours of sunlight reaching its solar panels. At the same time, the spacecraft requires more power to run several survival heaters […]

Editor’s note: We all know by now that Mike Griffin prefers to call himself “Spock” (audio). But who does the REAL Spock (Leonard Nimoy) prefer in election 2008? Listen to this excerpt from a recent appearance by Nimoy and you will hear about an encounter between Barack Obama and Nimoy a while back – and yes, Obama does the Vulcan salute. Hmmm … does this have any bearing upon space […]

Senator Biden on Reinvigorating our Space Program “When John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to go to the moon, he noted that the space industry not only demanded the best minds, it also created the best jobs. Ladies and gentlemen, the objective was not just to go to the moon. But it was to get another 435,000 engineers and scientists and mathematicians. When the Shuttle is retired, NASA estimates that […]

Editor’s 27 Oct update: This chart shows one of the scenarios where winds could cause the Ares 1 to drift toward the launch tower and possibly damage it with its plume. Click on image to enlarge. Problems mount for NASA’s Ares rocket, New Scientist “One NASA engineer, who has participated in studies of Ares I performance, told New Scientist the rocket’s design needs a complete rethink: “You might as well […]

Grim outlook for Ares, says Beltway insider, Orlando Sentinel “A former chairman of the House science committee told Brevard County leaders Monday that NASA’s next rocket is “on the chopping block” and that a new administration may abandon the Ares I as successor to the space shuttle. The next president may look instead to use military rockets to launch NASA astronauts, said Robert Walker, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania […]

The Mars Institute is seeking applications for a position on the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP): Logistics Manager “Qualified applicants must: a) be Canadian citizens or permanent residents in Canada … The successful applicant will play a key role in an exciting, unique, and cutting-edge international effort to advance the exploration of the Earth, moon, Mars, and space. The HMP Logistics Manager will be required to be based in Canada and work […]

Editor’s note: From the National Academies: “The following reports are tentatively scheduled for release during November. However, release dates of National Academies reports depend on successful completion of the review process and publishing schedules: Launching Science: Science Opportunities Enabled by NASA’s Constellation Program [National Research Council] Assesses potential space and earth science studies that could be addressed by taking advantage of the launch vehicles and spacecraft being developed by NASA […]